L.A. Council Approves BNSF Intermodal Yard for SoCal Ports

The Los Angeles City Council approved an intermodal rail yard to serve the Los Angeles and Long Beach port terminals, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Southern California International Gateway would be built by BNSF Railway Co. for $500 million and be capable of handling 8,200 trucks a day and 2.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units a year by 2035, according to the Times.

The facility is intended to move intermodal operations closer to the ports and reduce highway trips for shipments that currently travel about 24 miles one-way from the ports to an existing rail terminal.

The L.A. Harbor Commission approved the plan in March, and the Port of Los Angeles backed a reconfigured version of the project in October.

Separately, BNSF reported its first-quarter net income rose 16% to $912 million from $789 million, continuing the trend of generally higher industry earnings. Revenue rose 4.8% to $5.18 billion.

BNSF is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Omaha, Neb.